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Rage Against the Machine
DIR By: Sixx
Date: April 28, 2014, 4:10 pm
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[center]Rage Against the Machine
By
Sixx King
[/center]
It’s been an interesting week in the NBA. Donald Sterling has
allegedly confirmed what a lot of us have suspected for years,
the Indiana Pacers have basketball fans around the world
thinking “Aren’t these guys supposed to be good?”, the
Washington Wizards are relevant, the Houston Rockets and the
Portland Trail Blazers are playing one of the best first round
series I’ve ever seen in the NBA playoffs, and all of this is
just the tip of the iceberg. Down here in Texas, however, one
story is flying under the radar…
The Dallas Mavericks have a 2-1 series lead over Greg Popovich’s
well oiled basketball machine, the number one seeded San Antonio
Spurs. Entering the series, the Spurs had beaten the Mavericks
9 consecutive times, and in game 1, behind 27 points from Tim
Duncan, the Spurs extended that streak to 10 with a 90-85
victory at home. More Spurs dominance. More Mavs heartache.
I will admit to being one of the many people who expected game 2
to go down much like the 10 Mavs-Spurs games before it. At the
end of the first quarter, the Mavs led by one, and their star,
Dirk Nowitski, was struggling. By halftime, the lead was at 5,
but the Spurs were still well within striking distance. With 4
minutes left in the third quarter, San Antonio’s Manu Ginobli
hit a three pointer to trim the Mavs’ lead to seven points, and
you could just feel that the machine was about to get going.
The something unexpected happened… The Mavs’ Jose Calderon WENT
OFF. He scored 7 straight for Dallas, and before too long, that
7 point lead had grown to 17. The Spurs cut the lead to 13 by
the end of the quarter, but would never get within single digits
again, as the Mavs cruised to a 113-92 victory, with the 21
point margin of victory being the Mavs’ largest against the
Spurs since the 2006 playoffs. Monta Ellis, who has provided a
spark for Dallas all season, despite being pegged as an
overpaid, inefficient volume shooter when he was signed in free
agency this past offseason, led the way with 21 points for
Dallas.
Confession time… Even after the beating they suffered in game
2, I fully expected San Antonio to put the Mavs in their place
in game 3. I looked like a genius for a while there, too. The
Spurs put up 34 points in the first quarter, taking a 34-27 lead
into the second. Then the wheels came off for a bit. The Mavs
outscored the Spurs 32-20 in the second, allowing them to take a
59-54 lead into halftime. Unlike game 2, the Mavs weren’t able
to pull away in the third. In fact, the Spurs trimmed that 5
point lead to 3, going into the fourth quarter trailing 77-74.
Things seemed to be set up perfectly for The Machine. Be honest
with yourself. In the fourth quarter on an NBA playoff game,
would you rather have the machine-like efficiency of the Spurs
on your side, or the combustible personalities of the Mavericks.
And everything worked out just the way it was supposed to. In
fact, the Spurs had a 108-106 lead when the clock hit zero… The
problem? The ball was in the air when the clock struck zero,
with Vince Carter (yes, that Vince Carter. He still plays
basketball. Seriously. Google it.) having just taken a long
three pointer… That he drilled, giving the Mavs a 109-108
victory in an incredible game with an even more incredible
ending. Suddenly, The Machine is reeling.
Game 4 is tonight, and it’s possible, maybe even probable, that
The Machine keeps on running like it always does and the
combustible Mavs do just that, combust. Even if that’s the
case, it’s okay. The Mavs and their aging stars (Nowitski,
Carter, and Shawn Marion), supposedly overrated guys that nobody
else wanted (Ellis), and role players playing beyond their
limitations (Calderon and Samuel Dalembert) have done what
nobody thought they could do. They have taken The Machine and
put it on the ropes. The only bad part about it is that nobody
really notices. We have Sterling and his racism, with his own
players wearing their warmups inside out in protest. We have
the East’s number one seed, the Pacers, collapsing in such
spectacular fashion that it’s hard to look away. Along with
those stories, and everything else being pushed to the
forefront, we have the fact that The Machine is The Machine, and
because they are The Machine, everyone assumes that they will
right the ship… Maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but I can
guarantee you that I will be watching to find out. This series
has been compelling for all the right reasons, and you haven’t
been following it so far, do yourself a favor and check it out
tonight. The Machine will still be Machine, but the Mavericks
may be the ones to take it offline. Thanks for reading, folks.
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